PEKIN — Brandon McCartney of Creve Coeur got the break among the three young men accused of running a burglary ring that preyed on at least four homes in northern Tazewell County in fall 2012.

If he had complied with the probation conditions that came with a short jail term, McCartney, 19, would have avoided years in a prison cell, where his two alleged partners were sent.

He didn’t come close.

His parents watched this week as a judge sentenced McCartney to 3½ years in prison for violating the 30-month probation term he received last February for possessing a stolen firearm.

McCartney, who told Tazewell County Circuit Judge Michael Brandt his formal education ended after eighth grade, repeatedly violated his probation. He tested positive in urine samples for marijuana three times and a synthetic form of the drug twice. More than a half-dozen times he failed to make scheduled visits to his probation agent, Brandt heard.

When an agent visited his home in late December, McCartney lied about the presence of another probation defendant who was hiding in his house. He refused orders to submit to in-house drug treatment, Brandt heard.

For those choices, he’ll turn 21 in prison.

McCartney was initially charged with burglary along with the stolen firearm count. It was dismissed in the plea agreement that also produced a 180-day jail term, most of which he’d served while in custody on bond as his case progressed.

Andrew Stear, then 19, of Peoria Heights was sentenced in January 2013 to six years in prison on two counts of burglary. Everett Dobbs, then 19, of East Peoria received a four-year term a month later for one count each of burglary and possessing stolen property. Their alleged 16-year-old partner was referred to juvenile court for his role in the burglary spree.

Police believe the four combined to break into four houses in East Peoria, Morton and rural Washington in September and October 2012. At least $6,000 in jewelry and other items was stolen from the homes.

Dobbs was found in possession of more than $4,000 worth of the jewelry. Police were questioning him at his home when Stear arrived in a car filled with more stolen items that he later acknowledged stealing from an East Peoria home earlier in the day, according to court records.